Matua, aka Fred Who, fights for Browns right guard job

He’s quietly fighting for the Browns’ right guard job a year after getting cut by the Lions.

He used to be Fred Matua, three-year starter at USC.

He wasn’t just along for the ride. In his second year as a starter, College Football News called him one of the two best guards in the nation. The Trojans went 37-2 in the seasons he started.

So, who is he really?

Ask Matua, and he says he’s a long-term NFL guard.

“I always had confidence in my ability,” the 6-foot-2, 315-pounder says. “I’m known for being a little bit cocky for a guy who’s never been on the field.”

Coaches tell Matua zippo about where he stands.

“The only thing you can control is the way you perform,” Matua said. “Study the book and play your heart out.

“Hopefully you put up some good film, and the coaches will want you to stay.”

Paul Brown avoided signing players from the West. He thought adapting to the Midwest too much a culture shock.

“I’m my own boy,” Matua said. “I’m Samoan. ... We go anywhere.

“This area is nice. It hasn’t been hard to adjust at all.”

Matua, 23, thought about coming East for college. He whittled his choices to Ohio State, Miami (Fla.) and USC.

“I knew Ohio State had great offensive line tradition with guys like Orlando Pace and LeCharles Bentley.” Matua said. “The Big Ten is a hard-nosed league. It’s no a secret why the Buckeyes win every year.”

He never found himself singing “I Wish They All Could Be Olentangy Girls.” In the end, USC was in his heart.

“USC is ‘the’ program,” he said. “The best of the best of the best go there.

“The things we’re doing to prepare here ... they’re the same things we were doing at USC.”

Matua says he was winning matchups in college against defensive linemen now established in the NFL, but ...

“(Smiling) I’m not gonna name them.”

Matua reminds himself not to get too cocky.

“Don’t come here with your nose to the sky,” he said. “Being a young guy, I want to be the sponge.”

He wants to start, but he wouldn’t be devastated if he doesn’t make the team. But it sounds as if it would hurt.

“This line is gonna be real good,” he said. “Once everyone’s put in place, we have the guys in each spot and the guys behind. And the chemistry.

“Shoot, man, when one guy’s in trouble, we’re all there for him. We’re like brothers. We’re just trying to work a little closer. When we knuckle things up a little bit, we can go out there and raise some hell.”

No Quinn on Sept. 9

A day after Browns General Manager Phil Savage said the quarterback race is down to “Charlie Frye and someone else,” it appears “someone else” isn’t Brady Quinn.

Savage now says grooming Quinn for the opener would be “very unrealistic.” He said twice this week that the Browns need to cook three years worth of “ingredients” at “375 degrees, not in a microwave.”

Still, he understands what the fans see.

“He showed a lot of poise,” Savage said. “The Lions were playing with third and fourth stringers, but Brady was playing with third and fourth stringers, too.

“How many preseason games have you ever been to when the score’s 23-0 and no one has left? People are excited about Brady, as well they should be. We’re excited.

“But you have to keep it in perspective.”

Head Coach Romeo Crennel and Savage both say Quinn will play in the second half Saturday in Denver.